DVD Review: Family Guy Season 16

Family Guy has been around long enough that anyone reading a review of it by now is aware of what it is. It follows the same story-of-the-week (sometimes with or without a side story) procedural format. While they do make callbacks to old jokes and references to past episodes, you really do not have to watch from week to week to follow what is going on (for the most part). There are some two or even three-part episodes from time to time, including this season. But, for the most part, the episodes are stand-alone. 

The show continues to be irreverent, making jokes about anything and everything, including the show itself. It is definitely adult humor, especially on the DVDs as the episodes are uncensored and they do drop in swearing that does not get put on the broadcast versions of the episodes. For me, the standout episodes of the season are the season finale in which Peter has a conversation with God. The Putin episode (mainly for the well-inserted Access Holywood Tape joke), the episode in which Brian enters himself into a dog show, and the body-switching episode. 

For those who are looking at the DVD set. As you are probably aware, the quality of the extras on the DVD releases has gone down as the years have gone by. For this set, you just get deleted scenes and an animatic of one of the episodes that is longer than the regular episode and have a commentary track on it with a couple of the writers. They are okay but not nearly as extensive as what the older DVD releases got. But, of course, as physical media has been slowly dying, especially when it comes to TV series, the fact that any DVD release happens is lucky.

Overall, the season is good. I still think the series was at its best in its first couple of years before it was canceled by FOX, but it managed to find a formula that works and has kept it on the air for years since it was brought back. As for whether it is worth getting the DVD set, it boils down to whether you want the uncensored episodes, as I have heard, the streaming version of the show is the same as the broadcast version. 

Workout Update: P90X Day 40

 Day 40 was the legs and back workout and ab-ripper for the warm-up. I was again dealing with a family-medical issue yesterday, so I had to workout much later in the evening than usual, but I was able to get it done. And, I was able to do at least 12 reps on all of the pull-up moves with the 95lbs of band resistance. So, I will be increasing that to 100 for next week's workouts, which is the last week of Phase Two.

Product Review: CCINEE 30PCS Artificial Tulip Flowers

These are fake tulips. They actually look very realistic, and it is not until you are up close to them where you can touch them that you can really tell they are fake. I did not have any problem with any of the flowers arriving broken, and you get enough to put in a couple of mid-sized vases. The only thing you do not get from these is a real flower smell. But otherwise, they look nice as a centerpiece on a table or on a shelf.

Workout Update: Day 39

 Day 39 was Kenpo-x. Nothing much to update about the workout. I was able to keep up with the people in the video for all of the moves, although I am definitely still working on getting my form back when it comes to the kicks.  Hopefully, that will get better by the time I am at the end of phase three toward the end of the first round of P90X.

Product Review: Polar Aurora 4'x10'x2 Thick Folding Mat

 

It is a good mat for higher impact activities like plyometrics, martial arts, and probably even some gymnastics moves. For yoga, it is good for some types of moves (like frog, camel, etc.) and not great for others (mostly balance moves because you can sink down into it a bit which can throw your balance off). Basically, any yoga move in which it is helpful to pad your knees or shoulders is wonderful. Any moves that require you to be on one leg for an extended period of time, it may cause you to lose your balance too much. For people who do the Team Beachbody workouts, it is great for most of the workouts in P90X, all of the Insanity workouts, and any of the other workouts that require you to jump around.

The only drawback I have noticed is that the seams will start to split open after a while. Nothing so bad that a strip of duct tape does not cure it, but given that it is not an inexpensive mat that could be a deal-breaker.

Workout Update: P90X Day 38

 Day 38 was the back and biceps (with ab-ripper as the warm-up). Overall, the workout went well. I was able to hit 10-12 reps on all of the pull-up moves (using bands) on everything except the corn cob pull-ups. I only got 5 of those, and that was as much because of limited space as it was the amount of band resistance (95 lbs still) that I was using. So, I am going to do one more workout with the 95lbs (legs and back tomorrow) and then up the band resistance for pull-ups to 100lbs. 

Workout Update: P90X Day 37

 Day 37 was Plyo-x.  I found that I am getting to the point where I am able to keep up with the people in the video a lot more consistently. Some moves I still have to modify, even more than the modifier, Pam, does. However, for many moves, I can jump (not just the toes barely off the ground type jumps) for the entire 30 seconds. So, it is definitely a work in progress, but heading in the right direction.

Workout Update: P90X Day 36

 Day 36 was the chest, shoulders, and triceps workout, with ab-ripper as the warm-up. I still do not like 90% of this workout. But, the one thing I do like is that it is one of the shorter resistance workouts. That is always nice, especially when adding ab-ripper to it, which adds an additional 16 minutes to whatever workout you are doing that day. I must say that this round of P90X is going by pretty quickly. I have just one more week in the "regular" part of phase two, then will be at the next recovery week. 

Workout Update: P90X Day 35

 Day 35 was a shortened version of Yoga x. I basically did it up through the balance moves and then stopped when they transitioned to the stretches. I did this for a couple of reasons, the main one being I was feeling a bit queasy as I go toward the end of the moving asanas, and it was getting a bit late in the evening. It is still a very tough workout, mainly because it is so long and has some very advanced moves, especially when you consider there was no meaningful yoga workout in Power-90, but I am getting better at it. 

Workout Update: P90X Day 34

Day 34 was legs and back along with ab-ripper x as the warm-up. I was finally able to hit 10-12 reps on the pull-ups using 95lbs. So hopefully, next week I can bump it up to 100 lbs. I want to be able to do 10-12 reps on all pull-up moves before I start doing bodyweight pull-ups. This will probably be in a second round of P90x where I will transition from using the bands to doing "regular" pull-ups. 

Workout Update: P90X Day 33

 Day 33 was x-stretch. I again had to mix up the workouts this past week because my schedule was thrown off. So, I changed up so the Saturday workout switched to Friday, so I was not doing resistance and abs two days in a row. Overall, the workout was fine. Nothing new to report about it. 

DVD Review: The Good Doctor Season 3

 

Season three of The Good Doctor starts shortly after the events ending season two, with Shaun asking Carly out on a date. Said date ensures, about as you would expect, and the rest of the season pretty much is centered around Shaun's interpersonal relationships. That is not to say that the medical aspects of the show are ignored, but the procedural case-of-the-week stuff does kind of take a backseat to the more soap operaish elements.

All of the major characters get storylines of varying degrees. Claire and Morgan each get major storylines and a lot of character development. Antonia Thomas and Fiona Gublemann really shine in their roles this year, and each will have major arcs going into season four (at least they are set up to be major arcs). The season does not really end on a cliffhanger, but more of a shock that will have a huge impact on the hospital. 

For those who get the DVD set, the twenty episodes are spread over five discs. The only extras are on the last disc, and those include a short gag reel (about 4 minutes) and 21 minutes of deleted scenes. There are no commentary tracks or behind-the-scenes material.

Overall, the series continues to be very well acted and pretty well written. As I said above, the focus of this year is a lot more on the various character relationships than the medical cases. And yes, there is a lot of sex talk, which does turn some people off. But, it is still a medical drama, and the medical cases are still important to the show. Freddie Highmore's acting continues to be top-notch. He can go from playing Shaun as unintentionally funny to sad, to angry on a dime. Some of his best acting is in an episode toward the end of the season in which Shaun's father is dying of cancer and Shaun goes to see him on his death bed. I cannot say that everyone will like the direction the show went in this year, but I think most fans of the show will still like it. 

Book Review: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

 

This is, of course, the book that launched the multi-billion dollar franchise about the orphaned boy named Harry Potter that finds out he is a Wizard when he turns 10 years old, and has been accepted to Hogwart's School for Witches and Wizards. It would eventually spawn seven books, eight movies, a spin-off series, and a play. For the few who do not know the story, this book basically establishes Harry learning that his parents were Wizards and killed by an evil wizard named Voldemort, who also tried to kill Harry as an infant. The attempt to kill Harry failed, and Harry was sent by Albus Dumbledore, the headmaster of Hogwarts to live with his aunt and uncle and then chronicles his first year at Hogwarts where he meets two schoolmates who would become his best friends, Ron Weasley and Hermoine Granger. 

For those who have seen the movie but have not yet read the book, this is the shortest of the novels so it has the least amount of material removed in the movie adaptation. That said, the movie did change some things and did shorten some sequences. For example, the opening sequence with the Dursleys is more extended in the novel and things like the trip to the zoo play out a bit differently than was shown in the movie. But, all the main plot points from the book ended up in the movie, especially once Harry gets to Hogwarts, so that will not be much different.

The book is age-appropriate for kids about 10-11 years old and up. Rowling intended that the kids reading it would be about the same age as the characters in the book, so for the first novel around 10-11 years old. The books get increasingly darker and more adult with each new book, but really for this book a kid only really needs to understand the concept of death and "good guys" versus "bad guys". Otherwise, the novel is pretty tame. It has a good blend of humor, action, and suspense, and touches on themes of family, friends, right vs. wrong, and the like. Even though it is technically a "kids book" it is enjoyable enough for an adult, and even though it was written in the mid to late 1990s, it holds up well enough to be enjoyable even years later. It can easily be enjoyed by people in their 20s, 30s, 40s, etc., whether your first experience with the Harry Potter universe was as a young kid, as a teenager, or (as in my case) as an adult because of watching the movies. And, because it is only a few hundred pages and meant for young kids to be able to read it, adults who are fairly quick readers can probably get through it in a couple of days without a problem

Ultimately, by now anyone reading this likely knows enough about Harry Potter to know the overall story and knows whether they like it or not. But, if you are just getting introduced to the series and are looking at the reviews if you are into fantasy novels or themes like magic, this is definitely worth reading. While it is nowhere near the best book of the series, it does a good job establishing the main characters, telling the stand-alone portion of the story, inviting the Sorcerer's Stone, and setting up what is to come down the line. 

Product Review: Altus Athletic Pull-up Bar

 

This is a sturdy pull-up bar. One drawback is that the mounting brackets may be a bit too large for your particular door frame, at which point you will have to determine if you want to send it back or damage the door frame to install it. There are things that flip up from the bracket that kind of secure the bar into the bracket, which, depending on the size of your door jam, may not flip all the way open unless you take a chunk out of the wood. If they cannot flip all the way up, the bar will not go into the brackets. Damaging the wood is not a big deal if you own your home, but could definitely be a big deal if you are renting. Either way, you have to screw the mounting bracket into the door frame, which, if you are renting, may not be allowed anyway.

The other drawback is that once the bar is in the brackets it can be very hard to get it out of them. It is definitely secure in the brackets and really, the things that flip up from the brackets are totally useless because it is secure in the brackets whether those are flipped up or down. But, when you want to take the bar off the door, getting it out can be a pain. 

That said, once the thing is on, it is sturdy. I have never felt like the bar was ever going to come out of the brackets or that the brackets were going to come loose from the door frame. So, if you can live with the drawbacks, this is definitely a good option, and much safer than some of the "no-install" pull-up bars. 

Product Review: LPOW Forehead Thermometer

 

This is a fairly standard forehead/no-touch thermometer. It is powered by two AAA batteries, which are included. It can be operated in two modes, body and surface. The first is exactly what it sounds like, taking your body temperature. The second is for taking the surface temperature of objects. You can also set it to display degrees Fahrenheit or Degrees Celsius. The main trick that I have found is when taking your body temperature, it is best to aim low on your forehead. The instructions kind of say this, but not explicitly. My only real complaint is about the instruction booklet. It is pretty small and the print is tiny. So, if you are over the age of 40 and your eyes have begun to change so you need reading glasses or progressive lenses, the instruction manual will be a chore to try and read. Just from messing with the buttons on the unit, I can tell that there are some other settings/features, but I am not in a big hurry to try to read through the instructions to figure them out. But, if you want it just for taking your temperature, without the need for sticking a thermometer in your mouth, this is a good option. 

Workout Update: P90X Day 32

Day 32 was the back and biceps workout, and again using ab-ripper as the warm-up. Ab-ripper went well. I mostly did 20 reps on the exercises again, but there were a couple of them that I could hit all 25 reps. As for the main workout, I really like the back and biceps workout. It alternates between the two muscle groups switching between two back exercises and two bicep exercises. One of the back exercises is some variation of a pull-up, and the other is something like lawnmowers, a version of heavy pants, back flys, etc. The total time is about 51 minutes including warm-up and cool down, so it goes very quickly. It is very challenging and will give you a good pump. So far, phase 2 is going well, even though the overall schedule got turned around a bit. 

Book Review: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

 

Fantastic Beasts is, of course, the prequel to the Harry Potter series, set in the same universe, but in the mid to late 1920s as opposed to the early1990s, which was when Harry Potter started at Hogwarts in the novels. Unlike the Harry Potter books, this is not a novel. It is a screenplay for the movie. As such, it is pretty much, scene-for-scene, and word-for-word what you see in the movie. There are no "extra" or additional storylines included in the book that were not in the movie. It also, clearly, does not read like a novel, but more like a script. 

The story is set in New York in the mid-1920s. Newt Scamander (who coincidentally writes a book of the same name that Harry has to purchase for class years later) travels from England to New York in order to release a creature into its natural habitat. He has a run-in with a Muggle (or no-maj as they are called in the United States) named Jacob Kowalski and in the process, a creature called a Niffler, which is pretty much a kleptomaniac gets out and starts causing havoc. Newt's beasts also get blamed for wreaking destruction throughout the city which is actually caused by something more sinister.

While the story is set in the Harry Potter Universe, the story is definitely not a carbon copy of the Harry Potter story. Due in large part to the fact that most of the characters from the Harry Potter novels and movies are not yet born when this is set. The only characters that were seen or mentioned in Harry Potter that are established to be around now are Dumbledore (who is mentioned in the book) and Grindewold, who the book establishes as the main antagonist of the time period.  He is basically the Voldemort of his time, with a goal to start a war between the magical world and the nonmagical world. The other main characters in the book are Tina Goldstein who works at the US version of the Ministry of Magic and her sister Queenie, TIna's boss at the Perceval Graves and Credence Barebone 

Overall, the story is very good. I like the fact that it is different than the Harry Potter world. For example, wizards and no-majes in the US are totally separate from each other, and wizards and witches are forbidden to marry a no-maj. And, the story is not focusing on a young Dumbledore (at least not at this point), using Newt and Tina as main characters along with Queenie and Jacob. So, as long as you accept that this is not a carbon copy of Harry Potter, it is enjoyable. Although, I do think it would have been better as a traditional novel as opposed to just a screenplay which may be difficult for some people to stick with reading. 

DVD Review: Family Guy Season 15

 

Season 15 of Family Guy pretty much follows the same format that it has used. The episodes are all stand-alone stories of the week, but there are callbacks to old jokes and references to past episodes. By now, anyone who is thinking about buying the show, especially on DVD, knows what it is and what it is not. Like the more recent DVD releases, this is uncensored, so there is a lot stronger language than what can get broadcast on TV, including some f-bombs here and there. There are a lot of good episodes this season, but honestly, the season finale, "A House Full of Peters" was probably my favorite of the bunch. There is not really a stand-out episode this season (like the "Family Guy Presents" episodes in which Stewie and Brian go on some adventure) but there were not really any duds either.

This release is fairly light on bonus features. There are deleted scenes for every episode that run from a few seconds to a few minutes. There are no commentary tracks on any episodes or any interviews with the cast or anything like that. There are two tributes, one to Carrie Fisher and one to Adam West, who died in 2016 and 2017 respectively. The tribute to Fisher was mostly the writers talking about their love of Star Wars and how much they enjoyed working with her on the series. The tribute to West was basically a collection of the more memorable scenes of his character from the series with a tribute card at the end of it. 

Overall, the show is what it is. If you have been a fan, it is worth watching. If you have never been into it, this season will not change your mind. A case can certainly be made that the series is getting long in the tooth, but I think the writers continue to come up with good story ideas, so I do not think it has gotten to the point where it is totally stale, or the writers are not coming up with new ideas. So, if you are a fan of the show it is worth watching. Whether you think getting the DVD is worth it vs streaming, I do not know if the streaming versions are censored (I believe they are the broadcast versions), but that is one consideration, and you do get some bonus features that you will not see if you just stream it. 

Workout Update: P90X Day 31

 Day 31 was Kenpo-x on my altered schedule. It went fine. I again skipped that cold stretching that they do as the warm-up and just started with the workout itself using the twist and pivot and punches to warm-up. The workout went pretty much as it has the past couple of times I did it, so no big changes to report.

Book Review: Touching History: The Untold Story of the Drama that Unfolded in the Skies Over America on 9/11

 

Touching History is a book written by a former pilot and airline instructor, Lynn Spencer. It tells the story of 9/11 mainly from the perspective of the air traffic controllers and military personnel, starting at the time air traffic control lost contact with flight 11 and ending with the military patrols that were flying over all the major cities in the days after the 9/11 attacks. Therefore, the book does not focus much on what was happening in any of the buildings or even a ton about what was happening on the planes aside from talking about some of the things that were relayed from passengers or flight attendants to the airlines. She did not even focus much on the known discussions and messages left by passengers to their loved ones (with a few exceptions). 

The main takeaway from the book is just how unprepared everyone from air traffic control to the airlines, to the military, was for an attack like this. As anyone who grew up in the 1970s or 1980s remembers, when planes were hijacked they would force the pilots to land somewhere and have a list of demands they wanted to be met as they negotiated with authorities. There was almost never collateral damage on the ground, and planes were never used as missiles. So, it seemed that very few people had any real idea of what was actually going on even after American 11 hit the first tower, really until Flight 77 hit the Pentagon. The book also details experiences of other flights, some of which were considered to be hijacks even after they landed safely, and details one flight that was very likely a 5th plane that would have been hijacked (that was never mentioned in the 9/11 report) had it got in the air (it was caught up in the ground stop) that had 4 or 5 Arab men sitting in first class who ditched their luggage when the plane went back to the terminal in which box cutters and Al-Queda documents were found. It also details the chaos both from the FAA standpoint and pilots in the air when the ground-stop order was issued and trying to land all of the planes currently in the air or coming to the US from overseas. 

Overall, the book is very well written and has a lot of detail that has not been widely revealed to the public. It is more of a just presenting the facts kind of book, but the author does a great job conveying the emotion that the various people involved had while the events were unfolding. She also does a great job conveying the inability of the FAA and air traffic control to effectively communicate with the military because they were all using different systems and different lingo, and how even the different branches of the military had a hard time communicating with each other. I would consider this a must-read for anyone who is into history or just researching, or interested in learning about, the events of 9/11.

Workout Update: P90X Day 30

 Day 30 was the Chest, Shoulders, and Triceps workout and ab-ripper. I again used ab-ripper as a warmup doing 20 reps for each move. Then, the main workout was the first resistance workout of phase two. I will be honest, I am not a huge fan of this workout (mainly because I hate all of the push-up moves they are doing). I liked the push-up exercises from the Chest and Back workout, but hate pretty much every single move in this one. I do like the shoulders and triceps moves that they picked for this workout, but that is the only redeeming quality for me. This was supposed to be the Day 29 workout, but this week's schedule got turned around, but I am going to adjust as I need to and keep at it.

Workout Update: P90X Day 29

 Day 29 was the beginning of phase two. It was supposed to be the Chest, Shoulders and Triceps workout, but I swapped with Plyometrics so I could do a shorter workout since my schedule was thrown off by an emergency errand. Plyo went pretty well, although my body did have to adjust a little to it since I had not done it in over a week. I still have to modify some moves (like the guitar hops) but I am getting better on others (like the jump-knee-tucks). Anyway, the schedule will be a bit out of wack this week, but I am going to adjust and keep going.

Workout Update P90x Day 28

 Day 28 was Yoga x, the last day of the recovery week. I did most of the workout (up to yoga belly 7). and for the harder moves at the end of the moving asana series (warrior 3, half moon, etc.) I used a chair to balance myself, which worked very well. It was a lot easier to do it that way than to fall all over the place if I try to do them without the chair. Hopefully, by the end of the 90 days I will be able to do them without a chair assist and without losing my balance every two seconds. 

Workout Update: P90x Day 27

 Day 27 was x-stretch again. I was going to do yoga, but as I do a lot, switched them up. Nothing really to report on this one. As I said the last time, I can tell I am getting a bit more flexible, but definitely not as flexible as I would like to be. 

Workout Update: P90X Day 26

 Day 26 was the second time of doing Core Synergistics in the recovery week. While I still do not like the workout all that much, I did feel it went a bit better than the first go-around. I still cannot do a full Dreya Roll to save my life, even a full modified one, and bow-to-boat was still very hard, but otherwise the rest of the moves were better than when I did it on Monday.